Quotes from today's Kickoff Press Luncheon

8/2/2017 5:01:00 PM | Football

Raiders open season Sept. 2 vs Vandy

By: @MTAthletics

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Middle Tennessee Football Press Conference Quotes

Head Coach Rick Stockstill
On the offensive edge:
"You look offensively at last year and we did some really good things. We put up some good numbers. I think those returning guys that played last year, and then the new guys coming in filling holes, they want to be better than they were last year. There is no complacency. There is no sense of accomplishment. They want to keep getting better. They have a great work ethic so I think that edge on offense is for us to improve and get better than we were last year."

On the defensive edge:
"I felt we underachieved defensively last year. When you give up 40 points a game in conference play, it is hard to win games. If we can just get a little bit better defensively and you can knock that down to just one less touchdown a game, then you are giving up 33 points a game. How much better can we be? Can you knock that down to 27? Then, how much better can we be? I think those guys on defense understand that. It is there edge, to prove they are better than the product we put on the field (last year), and it is not their fault. It is my fault. I am not playing them. They have an edge about themselves to prove they are a lot better than they were last year."

Is the change defensively more about schematics?:
"One, it is going to start schematically. We are going to be a lot different than we were last year. I think we are a fast defense. We have good speed on our defense at all positons so we are going to try and do some things to take advantage of their athleticism and their speed. Schematics will probably be the biggest change."

On changes in the offensive line:
"Offensively, we lost three starters in the offensive line and all three of those guys are going to be hard to replace because they were tough, physical, mentally tough, good football players. It is going to tough to replace those guys, but I feel really good about the guys we are replacing them with. Will they be able to play up to those standards as the guys before? We will find out, but I have confidence that they will.

"I think (OL) Robert Behanan got better and better in the spring. He had a good summer and he has had two good days so far in practice at center. He's athletic. He's smart. He just has to do it. I have a lot of confidence in Robert, and I think he will have a good year for us. We have good competition at the tackle positions with Conner Trent and Eric Golston. We have guys competing for those spots. I feel good about our guys that by the end of August we will put a good offensive line out there.

On the tailback situation:
"We lost a lot of production from I'Tavius (Mathers) in the backfield. We have more depth at running back this year than we did last year and we have good competition there so I feel good about that position. It may be two or three of those guys put up I'Tavius numbers. It may just be one guy. Shane Tucker, Terrelle West and Desmond Anderson and Maurice Gordon are four really good guys who are competing."

Any freshmen stepped up or surprised you so far?:
"It is too early to say things about a freshman. They have had two practices and they have both been in shorts. I like all the freshmen we have signed. A couple of the receivers will have a chance to contribute early. I think those offensive lineman are going to be really good players. Whether they continue to develop when the pads go on will be seen but there is great potential there. I also feel there is really some good potential on the other side of the ball, on defense. DQ Thomas at linebacker, Tavares Thomas at linebacker is a junior college kid but he just got here. We have some new guys and we will have a better idea of how much they can contribute when they put on the pads, and how they hold up mentally under the grind of fall practice."

Are you rotating the running backs, or is there a clear No.1?
"When you send the ones out, someone has to go and right now Terrelle West is with the ones. Shane Tucker is with the twos, Desmond Anderson is with the threes and (Gordon) is with the fours. One part of practice, (Gordon) may be with the ones, Shane may be and Terrelle may be with the threes. They are all getting a lot of work and a lot of reps. They are all working with the ones."

On improving and earning playing time:
"I'Tavius is a great example. He came in here with a lot of hype because he was a local product and a transfer coming from the SEC. He had a lot to prove and he had a lot to improve on to develop his skill set as a running back and he did that. Just because you are second team today or third team today does not mean you can't be first team tomorrow. Just because you are first team today doesn't mean you can't be third team tomorrow. Every day you have to prove it and earn everything you get. There is no sense of entitlement. Just because I did it today doesn't mean you do it tomorrow."

Is Richie James at a place where you can do even more with him offensively?
"If you look at it, his freshman year he caught 110 balls and we used him in some jet sweeps and then in the passing game. Last year when Brent (Stockstill) got hurt we moved him back there and he was kind of the wildcat quarterback. We have moved him around a little bit. Now, being his third year, we can do even a little bit more. He is such a dynamic athlete. He is a really good player, great athlete. Most of the time when you are a good athlete you can do more than one thing. Richie is a smart player and that enables you to put him in different places to help the team."

Is this Brent Stockstill's team?
"No, this is Middle Tennessee's football team. No team is based around one player. Brent is a good player. He is a great leader for us, and he will be the first to tell you he could not do what he has done without Chandler (Brewer) and those guys up front. The guys behind him, beside him, and Richie is not going to catch 100 balls a year unless he has someone to throw it to him and have linemen to protect long enough for Brent to throw it to him. It's a team game – defense, offense, kicking game. I know it's cliché but this is not any one individual's team."

How much more can Brent (Stockstill) improve?
"I think every player can improve every year. What Brent is really good at, then continue to work at it and continue to get better at it. He was our second-leading rusher last year when he got hurt. I think that's an area where he might be able to contribute more to this offense from a running standpoint. He threw 31 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Can he cut those interceptions down? When you quit improving, then you stop living."

On protecting Brent from injury:
"Part of playing football is surviving games. Brent plays football the way you want it played. He goes hard. I would rather say, whoa! than sic' em. If you have to say sic em then that dog isn't going to hunt. I would rather have to say, 'whoa!' It is part of the game and it is unfortunate but we are not going to try and protect him. He wouldn't allow it anyway. To tell him to get what you can get and then get down, doesn't work. It goes in one ear and out the other."

What does this program have to do in order to get a conference championship?
"One, we have to play better defense. All of you have heard it; you win games with your defense. I think that's where it starts. If we can play better defensively and continue to improve offensively, and in the kicking game, then I believe in November when the dust settles then I believe we will have a chance to compete for it."

How special is it for you to have three players with the Tennessee Titans?
"It is special to me because I am happy for them. Everyone who comes here or plays college football, there lifelong dream is to play in the NFL and they get to realize their dream. They are three great ambassadors for Middle Tennessee. I couldn't be happier for Erik (Walden) and Jimmy (Staten) and K.B. (Kevin Byard). I told Coach Mike Mularkey he is going to coaching them because they are tough, hard-nosed, hard workers who care about the team. I am really happy for those games."

Defensive Coordinator Scott Schafer
On how camp is so far:
"Not too bad, just two days in no pads on. There's a lot of learning, a lot of installations and implementations and teaching the rudiments of playing defense. It's been good so far. The kids are working hard and have positive attitudes. I'm looking forward to day three."

On how much he looked at last season's film:
"The schemes have been formed for years. I'm getting old, so all those things are in your head, but the opinions for each player, you try to have a clean slate. You turn the page and you're like 'Hey guys, there's a new coach here, and here's what we want to work on. Here's what I'm looking for. Here's what the expectations are, and we'll make good decisions off of your behavior moving forward.' Now to go back and look at the videotape at what certain skillsets a player may have is probably what we did more than anyone else and try to familiarize myself with what the skillsets were in the position groups and the individual players that were on the football field. For me, you know what you want to get into scheme-wise, but it's getting to know who they are as people and get to know them. I've really enjoyed getting to know them. Coach Stock and his staff has done a nice job bringing in kids that love to play the game and with that comes work ethics because they don't see it as work. That's the thing I've appreciated the most about this bunch is they work hard."

On visiting his former employer (Syracuse) in week two:
"I'm really looking forward to teeing it off against Vanderbilt."

On having his son, Wolfgang, on the staff:
"It's awesome. It really is. We went out to the first practice the other day and I caught myself looking around to see where he was at. For all those years he was like Steve Ellis' son, Roscoe, running around the field all over the place hoping he's not going to get hit by a golf cart or something. Now he's coaching ball, and the best thing that happened to me after I lost my job at Syracuse was getting the chance to take a year off and watch him play. Up until that point I had only watched him play three or four times in high school, and I got to go to every one of his games. I saw him as a player that wanted to become a coach. The irony here is just unbelievable, to watch him run around and watch Brent [Stockstill] run around and have two dads out there that see their kids as quarterbacks that want to become coaches. He's having fun, and I'm looking forward to seeing him develop. It's great to see your son every day at work."

On stepping into a defense with a solidified linebacker group:
"It always helps when you've got guys in the middle. It's kind of like baseball, you want to have that middle infield all together. I think DJ [Sanders] does a nice job. He understands football; he understands scheme and adjustment football. That's a great start point, and then we have some kids on the outside that can run around. I'm looking forward to the competition between [Chris] Melton and Darius [Harris]. Those guys are going head-to-head pretty good. Khalil [Brooks] has done a nice job, and Caleb [Felton] has got a chance as well. A young guy, DQ [Thomas], is looking good. We have some good guys in there. Myles [Harges] is playing good football. A young man from Texas, Tavares [Thomas], is going to be a good football player. It's good to have that group knowing what's going on because they're in the middle of it. They're in between those guys up front and the guys in the back end, and the direction starts there. I've been in other situations where you walked in and you didn't have as much depth or returning snaps from the middle linebacker position, and development comes through him. It's kind of like a quarterback: What he can digest is what you move forward with. I've been pleased with DJ. He's got a lot of work to do to be where he needs to be, and he knows that. He's done a nice job, and he's led a good group of guys that love to play football."

On having pieces to implement system:
"The biggest thing is we have to do a good job up front. Games are won and lost up front. We lost four guys that were starting up there, and we have to replace them. There's strength in numbers, and we have some kids that can play. There's different things you do with different players, and you're scheme is a result of that. Coaches try to do a good job of putting their players in positions to make plays that they can make, and that's what we're trying to do as we hone things down and move people in-and-out of different positions. Malik [Manciel] has done a nice job leading the way inside and Rosheem [Collins] has been a good addition to our team. JJ [Jahmal Jones] and Walter [Brady] have done a nice job outside, and we've got guys behind them trying to steal their jobs. All-in-all, you adjust to the elements, and the elements are that we might have to rotate and play a few more guys. We won't be as big as we were in the past up front, so we have to look at different types of things to try to help those guys out, but I've been pleased with how they've attacked things each day both in spring and now in the fall."

On the importance of the defense being better than last year:
"[Defense] will be the key to getting the first championship, that's for sure. That's why you coach. You can't go out there and play anymore and that fixation of competing that way, so that's why you coach. It's nice to be back at home coordinating again. As a head coach, that was fun, but it was a totally different mindset. I've really enjoyed being in a dark room watching videotape and figuring out what calls to make and who to play where. It's fun to be back home, in my mind at least, enjoying the grind. It's a different type of grind when you're coaching positions and the defense than when you're a head coach. It's good to be back doing those things. We're going to give 'em hell and see what we can put on the football field. As long as our kids continue to do what they've been doing, you'll see them playing hard, and we'll try to put them in positions to make plays. It's a great challenge, and I'm looking forward to it."

Offensive Coordinator Tony Franklin
On pass catchers out of the backfield:
"They're all OK. None of them are liabilities. Maurice [Gordon] wasn't very good when he got here. He really developed his skills over the summer when he got here. All those guys have a chance. It's a good problem to have. There's five of them that look like they can play. It'll be fun to watch them compete."

On having a quarterback and wide receiver combination for a couple of years:
"Richie [James] is obviously a special guy. He's improving his own skillset. He's like every great player that I've ever coached, they do things that you don't coach. They get better at things that you don't normally get them better at. What you try to do then, is to develop things to get them the ball. Defenses like Scott's, they're going to spend time saying 'Okay, if we shut this guy down, they're going to have issues scoring,' so you create ways to get them the football. Last year we were creative in how we got him the ball, and this year I expect us to continue to work at that creativity, but at the same time, I also think that there's going to be some guys that make it to where if you double him, there's going to be some guys that can make plays and make you pay. That's a good problem to have. Brent [Stockstill], on the other hand: Jared Goff was the first quarterback that I got to coach for three years since I got to college, and he was a good player and obviously had wonderful things happen. I think Brent has a chance to be that special player. He's got a unique skillset. Sometimes people look at that and say he's just a coach's and therefore he must do a lot of things right, and that is true, he does that and he's got great leadership, but he's also a good football player. He's got really good accuracy and a great feel in the pocket. He's improved every day since I've been here. He's really hard on himself, and like most guys that achieve greatness, he never thinks he's had a great day. He always thinks he can do better. I expect him to have a really unique and special year because he's a unique and special player."

On expecting a division of carries:
"Going into last year, we thought that was the way it would be until I'Tavius [Mathers] stepped out and said 'I'm the best guy.' You hope that somebody jumps out and says 'If you don't give me the ball 20 times a game, something's wrong with you,' but if it doesn't happen or maybe three of them say that, then it's a good problem to have. I can't tell right now because we haven't gotten into the padded stuff yet, but I like all of those guys. Brad [Anderson] being the newest one to come in, and he's flashed in the first two days, which is a good thing. I know who he is. I don't learn their names sometimes for two or three years and I knew his on the first day, so that's a good thing."

On Brent coaching during his injury last year:
"It did help him. The fun thing was when I got to go to my daughter's wedding, I went to Coach Stockstill and said 'It'll be good for Brent to let him run it,' and when I got back, he told me I might ought to look for a job. It was fun. He's more mature than most guys at his age, and the moment he got hurt, the rest of the game he was coaching. His dad is one of the best coaches in college football, and Brent will probably be better, he just got a head start."

On Coach Stockstill being one of the best in college football:
"When it comes to coaching, first of all he's a winner. I think there's a lot of things to winning besides winning a lot of football games, which he's done. He won't want me to tell this, but the other day there was a young man that I remembered from the last time I was here that sent him a message. In that message the kid, who was a really special kid that overcame a lot, said 'You always cared even when I never played a snap. You treated me just the same as you did when I became a great player.' In this industry, I've coached for a long time, since 1979. I know a lot of coaches. There's a lot of good guys and there's a lot of bad guys. He's one of the best human beings you could have. He cares more about them than anybody in this industry. There's guys that go in the Hall of Fame; I don't know if he will or not, but he's one of the best in my opinion. There's another Hall of Fame and he'll be at the top of the list in that one, and that's treating people the way they should be treated. I learn from him every day."

Quarterback Brent Stockstill:
On meshing with new players on the offense (OL, WR, RBs):
"We're doing great. We've got a great group of young guys. Like he said we lost a couple key guys that have played three or four years. But those young guys have been here they just haven't played much but they work their tails off every day to get better. They all take coaching well. Everybody up front has done a great job. The young receivers are going to be just fine, it's just a very detailed system that we have to keep getting better at each day. By the time the first game comes around everybody should be ready to roll."

On having a healthy wide receivers corp:
"We've got a lot of depth out there. We've got guys out there that have been there and done it, had a lot of success. We've also got young guys who are going to contribute this year. We're two and three deep at every position and it's never a bad thing to have depth. So I'm really excited about that group, they all make plays and are super competitive and that's always good for a quarterback. So I'm excited about it."

On using his time in the Spring while injured to his advantage:
"It was a tough process. But it was okay because I put on a different hat and tried to use my age and leadership ability to mentor the younger guys. We've got a lot of youth up front and then with the younger quarterbacks, so that's what I did during the process. I really tried to help the younger guys that way when I got back I didn't miss a beat and now it's on me to get myself back and ready to go. I've got to knock some rust off but that'll be okay and I'll get to get better each and every day."

On any pain in his shoulder:
"I'm just fine. I'm ready to go."

On getting to play with Richie James:
"I'm the luckiest quarterback in the country. He's the best receiver in the country, I have no doubt about that. The things he does on the field is unlike anything I've ever seen which is a credit to his work ethic, the humble kid that he is. He just goes to work every day, continues to master his craft and it shows on the field every day. He put back-to-back seasons together and there's no doubt in my mind that he's going to put together another great season."

On injuries in the past affecting his style of play:
"Not at all. I'm going to play the game the way it's supposed to be played. One of my favorite quarterbacks growing up was Brett Favre, the way he played the passion and toughness he played with. If I get hurt playing all out, that's just the way it's going to be. I'm not going to change the way I play, I'm going to give 110%, give my teammates everything I've got every single play."

On playing for a conference championship:
"That's everything for us right now. That's the mindset we took in the offseason, both sides of the ball. We're just hungry, we're ready to roll. We're going to feed off each other, which is something I don't think we really did in the past. We're a true family, and when you're a family you can accomplish anything that you want to. We've done some good things in the past, had some okay years 8 wins and that kind of thing. But we're going to take the next step. We've got to win a conference championship, win a bowl game and I think we've got the guys to do that."

On having a chip on shoulder from losing three of the last five last season:
"I don't think so. I don't think we're talking about last year at all. I think we know what we're capable of, we had a few slip-ups, but that's not crossing our minds. We know what we can do, we know what we've done. We've competed with the best and beaten some really good opponents. So we just have to be a mature team each and every week. No slip ups and just go to work, be a pro every day."

On not being name to first team preseason C-USA:
"I don't get into all that. (Mike White) deserves it, he won a conference championship. He led his team to that, putting up big time numbers. So that's his preseason honor, he can have it. I'm just competing to be the best version of myself every day. It's great to have quarterbacks in this conference like him, it's fun to see where I stack up. But in the grand scheme of things I'm not worried about that. I ignore the noise, put my head down and go to work."

On his coaching stint giving him an appreciation for the work Coach Stockstill puts in:
"Absolutely, It's a tough profession, some people call you stupid for getting into it. I've really enjoyed it and it's been a dream of mine and something I really want to do when I get older. Not just my dad, but Coach Franklin and the offensive staff going through the details. The day (Franklin) allowed me to take over his role while he went out of town was huge for me. It was a special day, just the ability to mentor young guys not only on the field but off it is huge and I just respect the profession and what these guys do."

Offensive Lineman Chandler Brewer:
On the new offensive lineman meshing:
"Today is only day three but it's going good. Losing those three guys from last year is tough, but we're filling in the holes really well."

On the difference blocking for Shane Tucker compared to I'Tavius Mathers:
"It really doesn't change at all. Us o-lineman, we're just making holes. We just block, block, block, that is our job. I'Tavius was a really great player who made us look really good and I think Shane and the other backs will do the same."

Linebacker DJ Sanders:
On changes to the defense under new DC Scott Shafer:
"This year, we're really focusing on flying to the ball, getting all 11 guys to the ball after every play. We're really going back to the fundamentals of the game and working our way up."

On the number of points the defense gave up last year:
"It makes us really hungry this year. We realized we kinda dropped the ball last year. So we're putting that on our shoulders to be better."

On new assignments under Scott Shafer:
It's kinda similar except for we're really focused on getting to the ball. Some of the new drills, the two-whistle drill we like to do, it's really getting us into shape."

Defensive Lineman Malik Manciel:
On new defensive lineman stepping up:
"We lost a couple of key guys. But I like Rasheem Collins, he'll play the nose this year. I really like him, we've built good chemistry, getting to know each other. We've got a couple of young guys who just came in, we're still getting them right. But like those guys said it's just day two so we're just gonna find out today with pads on, since we get to be a little more physical."

On new assignments under Scott Shafer:
"I can say, we play faster. We move to the ball quicker. When you've got a defense built so that everybody wants to get to the ball and make a play, that's always good to have."

On the opportunity to play with Walter Brady again (the two played together in high school):
"That's special because me and him compete a lot. We go at it back and forth, him and me. So I know he's gonna bring that competitive spirit out of me and me for him. He brings a pass rush aspect to the game that is unmatched and I like that"